Posts by Dominique:

If you are looking for a Maths online program for extra practice here is one that you can consider. Smartick is an online maths helper which you can consider if you are looking for a Maths program for you kids to try out. Targeted at kids between 4-14 yr old this program aims at regular/ daily 15 min sessions for kids to keep the kids occupied and practicing Maths.

The Parental Dashboard

We were given a 3 month trial of the online program for Monkey boy, Doggie boy and Tiger girl to try out. I made 3 student accounts for them and set them to go test out the programs. Tiger girl was the most enthusiastic student out of the 3 as her brothers soon dropped off doing the Maths sessions as they were too caught up by their own school homework.

The Starting Video

Each session starts with an introductory video which gives the learner an idea of the topic that they would be covering for the 15 min session that day. Most of the time the kids just click off the video and go straight to the exercise as they comment that it is rather boring and long winded. They rather go “hand- on” than listen to a “How-to-solve” video.

A maths question

The learner has to go through a series of questions to get ticks which fill up as they go along. When they bar is full they have completed all their maths question for the day and they can now go on to virtual world to play some simple games.

The back end results

As you can see above in the parental dashboard Tiger girl’s result for a session is shown. The number of exercises that she has done in the different areas are also stated together with the time taken to solve each question.

Areas of maths that were covered by Tiger girl

The percentage of each topics that was covered was stated in the graph above. With one glance I can see clearly her progress through the various topics.

My thoughts

Having reviewed a few different Maths online programme I was interested to know how different Smartick was as compared to those out there. Here is my take on it.

Pros

Daily emails reminders if the child did not complete his session of the day.

Email to notify that the child had completed his/her session and the results of that particular session

Very responsive customer service who check in with you to see if they can give you a better trial experience.

Awards / Diplomas are given to the child when they completed certain topics.

Bite size 15 min session are good for kids who have short attention spans

CONS

Not being able to adjust the topics being practice on a daily basis and following the local school curriculum for the level. Some of the topics that the kids were given were not taught in the schools nor do they find them interesting.

The games inside the program were considered ” lame” by the boys and too childish as they seem to be catering for kids under 8. The characters/avatars too were not interactive like most games that they have played before.

There is no allowance to do more of a particular type of question on a certain topic when the child repeatedly gets the similar questions on that topic wrong.

There is no differentiated difficulty level in questions which will cater for children of various activities.

It not suitable as a teaching tool to reinforce concepts that were prior taught in school or introducing new Maths concepts to the child.

In all Smartick does make a good supplementary Maths program if you just want your child to practice Maths daily with minimal supervision.

Disclaimer: I was given a 3 month subscription to Smartick for my kids to test it out. All opinion are 100% ours.

The Salesman Who Doesn’t Sell – A Marketing Guide to Making Money While You Sleep by Brian J Greenberg is a book which I recently picked up to read. With the escalating cost of living I have always been looking out for ways to make more money to support the kids and myself. I have been very hesitant about doing sales as I’m not very outgoing however since I’ve started embracing challenges this is something that I haven’t phased out giving a try.

In the 4 sections of the book Brian shows how one can do the following.

Influence without selling

How to get found

Practice what you preach

How to keep growing

One will need to do some investment first in branding yourself before you are able to start attracting the right customers/clients. There maybe upfront cost developing a professional looking website , getting a suitable office address and telephone system to project a professional image.

Social proof is extremely important for marketers and even so when everything is online nowadays. With it well established it will be easier to get others to jump on the bandwagon and gain more business. One will need to “dress up” their website with seals of guarantees, testimonials, clients profiles and other types of endorsements to improve on the website’s Klout.

Product and service reviews help to build up the reputation of your brand. Seals and Guarantees also help to boost your credibility online. Showing statistics and your portfolio online also helps to get more people aware of your capabilities and services that you offer.

It is all about getting leverage on the different platforms available online and offline. To be clearly VISIBLE by using other ranked platforms to direct traffic to your side. Getting Keywords pointing to your site ranked and having it being reflected on the 1st page of GOOGLE search.

Having a good clean image also helps to boost your reputation online. Good customer service and being customer focused is recommended by the author.

My thoughts

Reliability on reviews to promote one’s product or service can be questionable. Many websites put up testimonials to increase their credibility however I personally am skeptical on the authenticity of such writings. With the advancement of the internet and also rise of many online markets/ stores. It is increasingly difficult to make one’s presence known in the global marketplace. It is increasingly difficult to create a niche for oneself. The rules of engagement are constantly changing and visibility is slipping through the cracks. Even though the author does give some good suggestions most of the techniques recommended are not that effective in the current climate given the constantly changing algorithms with the different modes of marketing. Nevertheless it does make a good start for one who is interested in creating a presence online.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions are 100% mine